Christopher Heacox will takeover Seven Days of Opening Nights with students as his top priority. / Bill Lax/FSU Photography Service

Written by

Charneisha Pates

Contributing Writer

Seven Days of Opening Nights, Florida State University’s performing arts festival, has named a new director. Christopher Heacox, a Florida State alumnus, will take the position as director of the arts festival beginning Aug. 1.

Seven Days of Opening Nights takes place every year in February. The festival is a fine arts festival that celebrates the arts on FSU’s campus and engages the fine arts units including music, creative writing and visual arts. Initially a festival that featured seven days of performances, the length of the festival has since expanded, but the name has stuck. Last year’s festival housed over 20 performers at the local venues across Tallahassee.

FSU put together a six-member committee who went on a national search for the best fit. The committee was composed of Lynn Hogan, associate dean for the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance; James Kimbrell, Creative Writing chair; Anne Hodges, director for the graduate Arts Administration program; Leslie Heffner, Seven Days of Opening Nights Assistant; Mike Pate, a community representative; and Leo Welch, associate dean for Community Engagement. The committee set out to look for someone who possessed both academic and presentation experience.

“When you start to look at both of those being equally important, Chris quickly rose to the top,” said Leo Welch, associate dean for community engagement.

Heacox is no stranger when it comes to music or the Florida State campus. He graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s degree in Music. He then studied jazz and contemporary media at the University of Rochester in New York where he earned his master’s degree, according to Florida State 24/7 news. Heacox has also held the title of executive director of the 120-year-old Friday Musicale festival in Jacksonville, Fla., since 2009.

“It really is great and I’m really excited to be working at Florida State,” Heacox told Tallahassee.com.

According to FSU’s own 24/7 media outlet, Heacox plans to expand the festivals scholastic and instructional outreach to Florida State community and schoolchildren in the local communities.

Welch said he believes one of Heacox’s biggest challenges will be promoting the festival to get more people aware and involved with its efforts.

“The average student is not aware that it is housed right here on campus,” he said. “It’s for the benefit of students as well as community members.”

As FSU says its goodbye’s to Steve MacQueen, former director of Seven Days of Opening Nights, many praise him for his efforts and commitment to the festival.

“Steve MacQueen was a good steward of the festival,” said Welch. “When he knew he would leave and accept a new position, he worked very hard to make sure this coming year was booked and taken care of before he left.”

Heacox will official begin his position at FSU on Aug. 1. According to Tallahassee.com, one of his first orders of business is meeting with deans and department leaders in the different arts units.

“I want to re-engage with the deans and really get in with them,” Heacox told the site. “I want to support what they’re doing for students and find out what we can do better to help the students. It’s about education first with me.”